Go there. Serve Him. Love them

How Ready Am I? A Self-Assessment for Global Work, Part I

When I was 23, an editor position opened up at the publishing house where I was working. In the vein of having integrity, I approached my boss with my interest in the position.

“You don’t have the chops for that job,” he told me point-blank.

His blithe directness, to be frank, chapped my hide. But looking back now, there’s no doubt in my mind he was right. I’m not sure if I have the chops for that particular job now. Yet it did make me take a look at the job itself and gradually appreciate just how off my self-assessment was–as well as my understanding of the job itself. And honestly, I buckled down to eventually be the kind of person who could qualify for a job like that.

“Isn’t going overseas mostly about obedience?”

Growing up, I thought the question of going overseas was primarily one of obedience. If you could say yes, you should go. I know now, and have seen, that global work can be done poorly. (I don’t exclude myself from that.) I have also seen that every part of the body of Christ is beautiful.

We are, yes, all called to go and make disciples of every nation wherever we reside on this third rock from the sun. No one gets a pass; we are all both sending and going, even if that going is right here, to the many nations within our own desperately needy cities and towns. But I also know that in that intricate beauty of his Body, God has not designed everyone to go overseas in a global work context.

And if we are designed to go there, we are not always designed to go now. Yes, the need is urgent! But God is also the faithful God of the long game; a God of seasons. There is a time to weep, a time to dance; a time to be discipled in your own faith, a time to go to college, a time to find resources for your handicapped child. Not unlike my publishing job, even with nascent qualifications, the time was not yet.

How ready am I?

So we’ve created a series of questionnaires to help you ask core questions like these about your readiness:

Do I have what it takes to go–and love well?

Is now the right time for me (and my family)?

In what ways could I be better prepared, so I do less damage and more good?

How has God made me?

Bonus: Results arrive immediately in your email inbox for you to discuss with a mentor and/or significant relationship in your life.

If these questions challenge you, know that we’re not seeking to intimidate you! On the contrary: We want you to see that you personally can go, and should seriously consider doing so. But Romans 12 cautions each of us “not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment” (v. 3). Use assessments like these to expose areas of weakness so you can manage them…rather than the other way around. Rather than making an emotional decision, opt for a prayerful, well-considered one that examines how you particularly can wisely, intentionally, and sacrificially step out of the boat for a kingdom greater than your own.